Then again, the game Anachronox had a character named Stiletto Anyway.

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She was an assassin going undercover as a stripper and that was her stripper name.

ASIDE: Speaking of naming, I remember YEARS ago when an old poster found an abandoned kitten and asked us for name suggestions. He never mentioned the kitten's gender, so I suggested Josie for a girl (reference to Josie and the Pussycats) and Bob (last name Cat) if it was a boy. Turned out, it was a girl kitten and he named her Bob. So somewhere out there is a girl cat who answers to "Bob" because of me.

Zap Rowsdower, a character n a horrible Canadian movie called Final Sacrifice. MST3K did a great job on this one.

This is my favorite answer.

For me, I go with canon/default if the game makes that available, but for things like Persona 4 where the canon name is revealed after the fact, I name them something original. For the original names, I try to make each one different. I'm a big name nerd, so I associate each name with a specific character, so it bugs the hell out of me if I name two different Hawkes or Shepherds with different personalities the same name.

At the risk of sounding and being completely unoriginal I always go with "Klyde" or "Chroma" for males. Alternatively I sometimes go with the name "Zak" or "Zekariah" because it is an alternative name I myself use in real life.

For females I go with "Trynn" based on some orginal character I drafted up ages ago. Alternatively I sometimes go with "Jeanne" based on Joan (Jeanne) of Ark (D' Arc) on account of having been fascinated by her for many many years.

Beyond those I have a few other names I use over and over again as well. I actually really love having the ability to rename characters in games personally.

Given the choice, and this usually only applies to WRPGs and the DQ series, but I name my male hero Straegar (almost exclusively Warrior type) and my female character Akera (usually some sort of ranger/thief type).

The names themselves stem from playing Baldur's Gate way back when, and in trying to come up with some interesting names, I read a guide somewhere online many moons ago that suggested that I invert some vowels and see what I get (it may have been someone's guide to D&D, I don't recall).

Anyways those are the names that ended up sticking, and I don't usually see those names in use especially when I go online in MMOs. There is the odd person that uses the same name once in a blue moon, so I get the feeling that they may be somewhat unique!

Zap Rowsdower, a character n a horrible Canadian movie called Final Sacrifice. MST3K did a great job on this one.

This is my favorite answer.

For me, I go with canon/default if the game makes that available, but for things like Persona 4 where the canon name is revealed after the fact, I name them something original. For the original names, I try to make each one different. I'm a big name nerd, so I associate each name with a specific character, so it bugs the hell out of me if I name two different Hawkes or Shepherds with different personalities the same name.

Hmmm, it's an interesting question when faced with it. Who do you want to get called for the next 30 hours? I usually end up sitting with the cursor flashing for 10 minutes until something comes to mind. Maybe I'm lame, but I always try to come up with something cool sounding that I think fits the game world. Of course, there are times I totally fuck off: Cat Shit, Mr. T (or Mr. Shizzle), things like that.

Okay, now the question... what in gods name do you name the lead from FFV? I refuse to go by Butz or Bartz.

I hear you on Bartz. Barts doesn't quite look right. Bart is valid, but it makes you think of The Simpsons. I do not want to journey with a hero named Butz, Buts, Buttz, or Butts. There is always the option of doing something weather related like Haze. Or perhaps Fog or Fogg (since that brings up the protagonist from Around the World in Eighty Days.) I only suggest this because so many FF characters have weather-related names like Cloud, Squall, Tide (okay Tidus), Lightning...

Or google words for quest or adventure or something cool in foreign languages. I once named a character Ascarya because I thought she was totally awesome, and in Sanskrit that means amazing and wonderful.

Sometimes I wonder if I should try reworking the letters of Dincrest into other feminine names (a few I got are: Tesi, Tresi, Trisé, Cresti, Cristé, Rié, and Enid) but nothing quite works like Cresta.

I hear you on Bartz. Barts doesn't quite look right. Bart is valid, but it makes you think of The Simpsons. I do not want to journey with a hero named Butz, Buts, Buttz, or Butts. There is always the option of doing something weather related like Haze. Or perhaps Fog or Fogg (since that brings up the protagonist from Around the World in Eighty Days.) I only suggest this because so many FF characters have weather-related names like Cloud, Squall, Tide (okay Tidus), Lightning...

To be fair though, Tidus' name means Sun in some language or another, which can be interpreted as a weather condition (and plenty of sunshine for today's forecast).

I hear you on Bartz. Barts doesn't quite look right. Bart is valid, but it makes you think of The Simpsons. I do not want to journey with a hero named Butz, Buts, Buttz, or Butts. There is always the option of doing something weather related like Haze. Or perhaps Fog or Fogg (since that brings up the protagonist from Around the World in Eighty Days.) I only suggest this because so many FF characters have weather-related names like Cloud, Squall, Tide (okay Tidus), Lightning...

To be fair though, Tidus' name means Sun in some language or another, which can be interpreted as a weather condition (and plenty of sunshine for today's forecast).

Oh boy, here I go....

I actually really don't like "Tee-dus" because it's more of a Japanese reference. Which of course, no offence -- and good on them for making Tidus/Yuna a cute play on the words for "sun and moon", but I'm sure 99% of the English audience can't really make that connection. "Tide-us" works beautifully with the fact he kind of starts out in an ocean (he's also 'wet' in the opening CGI), his main sword looks like crystallized-H2O, and the World's National Sport is Blitzball (which takes place in a over-sized pool, and he's the child prodigy of a said sport's MVP).

Canon or not, I've kinda just started saying it one way and kept it that way. "Tee-dus" means less to English-speakers than "Tie-dus" or rather "Tide-us" potentially could.

...and of course, no harm in referencing a Shakespearean character... ...sorta (I mean, it's one letter off; but again, works better as a western reference to another English name). And again, I'm not trying to diss on the more Asian-roots of the name given that this is probably the most Asian-inspired FF title to date.

You know, of all the main characters in a mainline FF game since FFVII, only FFIX's Zidane and FFXII's Vaan are not named after any specific meteorological term/condition (although Ashe could be interpreted as an ash cloud or plume from a volcanic eruption which is as meteorological in nature as a Squall or a bolt of Lightning, it's too bad she's not the main character though).

So far that's Cloud, Squall, Tidus, Lightning, and eventually Noctis (although if I counted the sequels, that'd add Yuna and Noel the latter of whom is kind of a wash since he's only named after Christmas terminology instead).